THE  PSYCHOLOGY 

OF 

AUTO-EDUCATION 


BASED  OH  THE   INTERPRETATION   OF   INTELLECT  OIVBH  BT 
HKSRI  BERG80N  IN  HIS   "CREATIVE  1TOLUTION." 


ILLUSTRATED  IN  THE  WORK  OF 

MARIA  MONTESSORI 

BY 
HARRIET  E.  HUXT,  Pd.D. 

FORMER  I'RIN(  H'AI.  OF  THE  t  ITT  TRAINING  SCHOOL  FOR 
TEAdllRfl    IN    srllAXTMN.   PA 


SYRACUSE,   N.   Y. 

C.   W.    BARDEEX,   PUBLISHER 
Cop\Tight,  1912,  by  C.  W.  Bardeen 


PREFACE 

The  material  of  this  book  is  presented 
from  the  stand- point  of  a  practical  teacher, 
not  from  that  of  a  psychologist. 

For  many  years,  the  question  of  training 
teachers  has  claimed  my  most  serious 
thought  and  effort. 

While  principal  of  the  training  school 
of  Scranton,  Pa.,  where  I  personally  con- 
ducted both  the  theoretical  and  the 
practical  phases  of  the  work,  1  demon- 
strated the  possiblity  of  so  training  teachers 
that  their  first  attempts  at  teaching 
children  would  be  pedagogical.  However, 
this  work  was  largely  intuitional  for  while 
it  was  possible  to  so  train  the  teachers, 
I  could  not  tell  how  I  did  it.  The  past 
two  years  have  been  spent  in  reducing 
my  practice  to  principles. 

In  this  work,  I  have  been  greatly  aided 
by  Henri  Bergson.  For  while  no  pre- 
tence of  grasping  his  entire  philosophy 
(3) 


285916 


4  AUTO-EDUCATION 

is  made,  I  did  find  his  interpretation  of 
intellect  and  intuition,  of  consciousness 
and  life  most  opportunely  helpful.  And 
for  this,  I  am  most  sincerely  grateful. 

Thanks  are  due  also  to  William  James, 
whose  "Principles  of  Psychology"  was 
most  helpful  in  regard  to  the  problem  of 
relations  and  whose  " Radical  Empiricism", 
just  received,  seems  to  substantiate  this 
theory. 

As  to  the  practical  application  of  my 
theory,  I  am  most  deeply  indebted  to 
Dr.  Maria  Montessori  for  the  invention 
of  a  material  which  seems  so  completely 
suited  to  carrying  out  this  theory. 

It  is  my  belief  that  any  teacher  who 
can  gain  such  a  point  of  view  as  that  held 
bf  Bergson,  James,  or  Montessori  can,  of 
her  own  initiative,  organize  her  class 
work  on  the  basis  of  auto-education. 
But  this  can  not  be  done  on  the  basis  of 
the  old  psychology  of  sensations,  per- 
ceptions, etc.  In  order  to  understand 
when  and  how  to  intervene  in  the  mental 
processes  of  the  child  and  when  to  refrain 


PREFACE  5 

from  doing  so,  one  must  understand  the 
underlying  principles  which  determine 
the  sensations,  perception,  etc.  And  in 
order  to  appreciate  the  vital  necessity 
for  self-development,  one  must  under- 
stand as  far  as  may  be,  the  development 
of  life. 

The   purpose   of  this   book  is  to   show 
that    this    "underlying    principle"    is    the 
tendency  to  establish  relations,  and  that 
the  most  important  fact  of  life  is  the  fact 
of  a  developing  form  of  consciousness. 
HARRIET  E.  HUNT 
Scranton,    Pa. 

June  21,   1912. 


CONTENTS 

I  THE    FORM  OF   KNOWLEDGE — THE 

TENDENCY  TO  ESTABLISH  RELA- 
TIONS              9 

II  THE  CONTENT  OF  KNOWLEDGE — A 

DEVELOPING  CONSCIOUSNESS.  ...       26 

III  LEARNING   AND   TEACHING    FROM 

if 

/        THE    STANDPOINT    OF    THE    "TEN- 
DENCY TO  ESTABLISH  RELATIONS"     49 

IV  THE  REORGANIZATION  OF  A  CITY 

SCHOOL     SYSTEM — BASED     ON 
AUTO-EDUCATION.  .  69 


(7) 


THE   PSYCHOLOGY   OF  AUTO- 
EDUCATION 

Since  the  body,  with  its  brain,  is  but 
the  manifestation  of  the  life  which  has 
formed  it,  it  is  clear  that  a  "Scientific 
Pedagogy"  must  rest  ultimately  on  a 
psychology  of  this  life.  It  is  true  that 
"Pedagogical  Hygiene",  "Pedagogical 
Anthropology"  and  "Experimental  Psy- 
chology" have  contributed  greatly  toward 
a  scientific  pedagogy,  but  these  contri- 
butions are  largely  toward  the  physical 
development,  while  the  more  fundamental 
problem  of  pedagogy  is  the  development 
of  life — not  alone  of  human  life,  but  of 
all  life. 

The  recent  interpretations  of  mental 
phenomena  which  are  based  upon  the 
more  intimate  knowledge  of  life  as  con- 
sidered in  its  entire  range  of  manifes^a- 
tions,  have  incalculable  value  as  applied 
to  education. 

(9) 


10  AUTO-EDUCATION 

In  dealing  with  intellect,  the  knowing 
element  in  consciousness,  psychology  has 
focussed  attention  almost  exclusively  upon 
the  images  of  objects  which  so  largely 
constitute  the  ''stream  of  consciousness". 
But  we  are  conscious  of  something  beside 
these  images  of  objects.  For  example, 
I  have  an  image  of  this  paper,  but  the 
paper  is  on  the  desk,  and  I  am  conscious 
of  that  space  relation,  on;  I  am  writing 
on  the  paper  now — a  time  relation;  the 
ink  is  blue,  i.  e.,  it  is  like  my  mental 
standard  of  blue — a  relation  of  likeness; 
I  am  writing  with  my  pen,  but  it  belongs 
to  a  class  of  tools  called  pens — a  relation 
of  the  particular  to  the  general;  I  see  the 
ink  in  my  pen,  it  stays  there  until  the 
pen  is  pressed  upon  the  paper  when  it 
flows  out  forming  the  letters — a  relation 
of  cause  and  effect.  Besides  the  images 
of  objects,  then,  we  are  conscious  of  the 
relations  of  space,  time,  likeness,  dif- 
ference, cause  and  effect  and  the  particu- 
lar to  the  general.  And  there  are  other 
kinds  of  relations  but  they  will  not  be 
considered  here. 


ITS    PSYCHOLOGY  11 

It  has  been  said  that  gaining  knowledge 
is  seeing  relations,  and  we  must  take 
account  of  this  fact  of  relating. 

In  his  discussion  of  intellect,  Bergson 
distinguishes  between  that  which  is  given 
by  the  perceptive  faculties,  namely,  sensa- 
tions, perceptions,  ideas,  etc.,  and  the 
tendency  to  establish  relations.  The 
former  constitutes  what  is  called  the 
"matter"  of  knowledge;  while  the  latter, 
the  tendency  to  establish  relations,  is 
the  "form"  of  knowledge.  The  form, 
the  tendency  to  relate,  is  innate,  inherited, 
while  the  matter,  the  sensations,  per- 
ceptions etc.,  are  acquired.  "The  new- 
born child,"  says  Bergson,  "so  far  as 
intelligent,  knows  neither  any  definite 
object  nor  a  definite  property  of  any 
object  j  but  its  intelligence  makes  use 
of  like  with  like,  cause  and  effect",  etc. 
In  this  way,  a  body  of  knowledge  is  ac- 
quired. 

This  discrimination  between  the  form 
and  the  matter  of  knowledge  has  an 
important  bearing  upon  the  method  of 
education.  The  tendency  to  establish 


12  AUTO-EDUCATION 

relations  which  underlies  sense  percep- 
tion, and  which  is  innate  and  so  acts  of 
itself,  is  one  of  the  most  important  prin- 
ciples underlying  auto-edti cation. 

In  his  "Play  of  Animals  and  Man", 
Groos  speaks  of  the  "hunger  of  the  senses". 
In  the  same  sense,  there  is  a  hunger  of 
the  relating  tendencies.  Especially  may 
this  be  seen  in  reference  to  space  rela- 
tions. When  a  child  begins  to  handle 
blocks,  shells,  or  other  small  objects,  his 
interest  in  mere  position — a  space  rela- 
tion— is  clearly  seen.  This  may  be  il- 
lustrated by  the  little  girl  of  eighteen 
months  who  would  entertain  herself  for 
twenty  minutes  at  a  time  by  merely 
moving  her  shells  one  by  one  from  the 
sand  pail  to  the  wheel  barrow,  then  back 
to  the  pail  and  so  on.  This  little  girl 
used  her  building  blocks  in  the  same  way, 
but  at  this  period  nothing  could  induce 
her  to  build  with  them;  relative  position, 
the  necessary  relation  in  building,  came 
later.  A  little  boy  of  four  years,  when- 
ever he  heard  the  size  of  an  object  men- 
tioned as,  for  instance,  if  his  mother  were 


ITS    PSYCHOLOGY  13 

to  say,  "Mary  was  eating  a  large  apple," 
would  say,  ''Well,  mamma,  was  it  as  large 
as  my  ball?",  showing  his  immediate 
interest  in  the  space  relation  of  relative 
size. 

The  phenomenal  success  of  the  Mon- 
tessori  Method  is  due  to  the  fact  that  the 
material  makes  its  appeal  directly  to  this 
tendency  to  establish  relations,  and  so 
meets  the  child's  first  needs  in  his  efforts 
to  grasp  the  meaning  of  his  environment. 
The  child  does  get  sensations  through 
the  material,  to  be  sure,  but  these  in- 
terests are  subordinate  to  the  greater 
interest  afforded  by  the  impulse  to  relate. 
This  fact  shines  out  from  all  the  pages 
of  Montessori's  great  work,  "The  Mon- 
tessori  Method",  although  it  is  not  re- 
flected from  her  consciousness.  For  in- 
stance, in  the  chapter  on  "Sense  Training," 
page  169,  she  says: 

"With  the  normal  child  it  (the  didactic 
material)  provokes  auto-education. 

"This  fact  is  one  of  the  most  interesting 
I  have  ever  met  with  in  all  my  experience, 
and  it  inspired  and  rendered  possible 


14  AUTO-EDUCATION 

the  method  of  observation  and  liberty.' 
Illustrating  this  she  continues: 
"Let  us  suppose  that  we  use  our  first 
object — a  block  in  which  solid  geometric 
forms  are  set.  Into  corresponding  holes 
in  the  block  are  set  ten  little  wooden 
cylinders,  the  bases  diminishing  gradually 
about  ten  millimeters.  The  game  con- 
sists in  taking  the  cylinders  out  of  their 
places,  putting  them  on  the  table,  mixing 
them,  and  then  putting  each  one  back 
in  its  place.  The  aim  is  to  educate  the 
eye  to  the  differential  perceptions  of  di- 
mensions." 

Although  Montessori's  ''aim"  may  be 
to  train  the  sense  of  sight  through  the 
medium  of  this  game,  it  is  very  evident 
that  the  child's  aim  in  using  the  material 
is  to  satisfy  his  "hunger"  for  the  space 
relations  of  position  and  of  relative  size. 
This  view  is  further  borne  out  by  the 
account  on  page  233  of  the  succeeding 
lesson  on  this  material,  which  is  as  follows : 
"The  directress,  after  the  child  has 
played  for  a  long  time  with  the  three 
sets  of  solid  insets,  and  has  acquired  a 


ITS    PSYCHOLOGY  15 

security  in  the  performance  of  the  exercise, 
takes  out  all  the  cylinders  of  equal  height 
and  places  them  in  a  horizontal  position 
on  the  table,  one  beside  the  other.  Then 
she  selects  the  two  extremes,  saying, 
This  is  the  thickest — This  is  the  thinnest.' 
She  places  them  side  by  side  so  that  the 
comparison  may  be  more  marked,  and 
then  taking  them  by  the  little  button, 
she  compares  the  bases,  calling  attention 
to  the  great  difference.  She  then  places 
them  again  beside  each  other  in  a  vertical 
position  in  order  to  show  that  they  are 
equal  in  height,  and  repeats  several  times, 
'Thick — thin.'  Having  done  this,  she 
should  follow  with  the  test,  'Give  me  the 
thickest  —  Give  me  the  thinnest,'  and 
finally  she  should  proceed  to  the  test  of 
nomenclature,  asking,  *  What  is  this  ? ' 
In  the  same  way  the  directress  proceeds 
with  other  cylinders,  calling  attention 
to  'highest'  and  'lowest',  'largest'  and 
'smallest'." 

The  child,  according  to  Montessori's 
account  "takes  spontaneously  a  lively 
interest"  in  this  game,  "pushing  away  all 


16  AUTO-EDUCATION 

who  would  interfere,  or  offer  to  help  him," 
wishing  "to  be  alone  with  his  problem." 

The  joy  of  exercising  the  relating 
tendencies  is  clearly  evident  in  this  ex- 
ercise, and  indeed  Montessori  says  herself 
of  it,  "There  is,  therefore,  no  question 
here  of  teaching  the  child  the  knowledge 
of  the  dimensions,  through  the  medium 
of  these  pieces. 

"Here  it  is  instead,  the  work  of  the  child: 
the  auto  correction,  the  auto-education 
which  acts  for  the  teacher  must  not 
interfere  in  the  slightest  way." 

One  has  only  to  observe  the  child  in 
his  play  with  this  material  to  see  that 
"ithe  auto-education  that  acts"  is  the^ 
tendency  to  establish  relations.  In  his 
play  with  these  objects  the  child  is  con- 
stantly sensing  the  likenesses  and  dif- 
ferences in  size  and  the  space  relations 
of  relative  size.  After  these  relations 
have  become  fairly  established,  the  names 
are  given.  Many  other  illustrations  bear- 
ing on  this  point  could  be  cited.  Indeed, 
the  important  characteristic  of  the  Mon- 
tessori Method  is  to  present  "few  con- 


ITS    PSYCHOLOGY  17 

trasted  stimuli",  wait  until  the  child  has 
established  the  desired  relations  and  then 
give  the  name. 

The  foundation  for  the  conceptual  rela- 
ations  which  is  established  by  this  sys- 
tem is  of  inestimable  value  to  the  child. 
The  following  reference  to  nomenclature 
is  interesting  because  of  its  bearing  up- 
on these  relations: 

"This  (nomenclature)  is  one  of  the  most 
important  phases  of  education.  Indeed, 
nomenclature  prepares  for  an  exactness 
in  the  use  of  language  which  is  not  always 
met  with  in  our  schools.  Many  children, 
for  example,  use  interchangeably  the  words 
thick  and  big,  long  and  high.  With  the 
methods  already  described,  the  teacher 
may  easily  establish,  by  means  of  the 
didactic  material,  ideas  which  are  very 
exact  and  clear,  and  may  associate  the 
proper  word  with  these  ideas." 

Discriminating  through  the  medium  of 
this  material  the  exact  space  relations 
of  "thick  and  big",  "long  and  high",  etc., 
and  learning  the  names  that  apply  to 
these  relations,  enables  the  child  to  exer- 


18  AUTO-EDUCATION 

else  this  same  relating  activity  in  com- 
nection  with  the  objects  of  the  environ- 
ment, and  the  subsequent  use  of  these 
terms  as  applied  to  the  environment  shows ' 
the  development  of  the  generalizing  ac- 
tivities. An  illustration  of  this  is  given 
by  Montessori  in  connection  with  her 
remarks  on  the  generalization  of  ideas. 

4 'There  will  be  children  who,  after  having 
touched  a  few  times  the  stuffs,  or  merely 
the  smooth  and  rough  cards,  will  quite 
spontaneously  touch  the  various  surfaces 
about  them,  repeating  'smooth',  'rough', 
it  is  velvet',  etc.  'We  must  await  this 
spontaneous  investigation  of  the  sur- 
roundings, or  as  I  like  to  call  it,  this 
voluntary  explosion  of  the  exploring  spirit. 

"The  teacher  should  watch  with  the 
most  solicitious  care  to  see  when  and  how 
the  child  arrives  at  this  generalization  of 
ideas.  For  example,  one  of  our  little 
four-year-olds  while  running  about  in  the 
court  one  day  suddenly  stood  still  and 
cried  out,  'Oh!  the  sky  is  blue!'  and  stood 
for  some  time  looking  up  into  the  blue 
expanse  of  the  sky." 


ITS    PSYCHOLOGY  19 

This  illustrates  perfectly  the  fact  that 
the  tendency  to  establish  relations  is  the 
principle  underlying  auto-education.  The 
child  saw  the  likeness  between  the  sky 
and  his  mental  standard  of  blue  and  so 
could  teach  himself  the  color  of  the  sky; 
i.  e.  the  development  of  his  relating  power 
produced  an  alertness  and  activity  of 
mind  which  compelled  new  discoveries — 
this  is  auto-education. 

There  is  nothing  mysterious  about  auto- 
education  if  the  teacher  only  focuses  her 
attention  upon  the  tendency  to  relate, 
which  the  child  begins  to  exercise  at  birth, 
instead  of  on  the  conscious  elements  of 
sensations,  images  of  objects,  etc.,  which 
the  child  has  to  acquire. 

It  is  claimed  that  the  children  them- 
selves, through  their  interests,  have  de- 
termined the  sequence  in  which  the  material 
is  presented.  No  doubt  the  relative  time 
of  the  development  of  the  relating  ten- 
dencies has  determined  for  the  child  his 
interests. 

While  the  illustrations  cited  above  show 
than  an  appeal  is  made  by  this  material 


20  AUTO-EDUCATION 

to  the  relating  tendency,  the  method 
used  by  Montessori  in  teaching  the  repre- 
sentation by  figures  of  the  number  ten 
(a  point  which  has  to  be  taught  indepen- 
dently of  the  material),  shows  that  she 
has  not  yet  grasped  the  idea  of  this  ten- 
dency. 

Counting  beyond  ten  is  carried  on  by 
the  "Long  Stair"  rods.  The  lesson  in 
which  the  children  are  taught  to  repre- 
sent the  numbers  which  consist  of  two 
places,  units  and  tens,  begins  as  follows 
on  page  336,  of  "The  Montessori  Method": 

"Counting  along  the  rod  as  far  as  nine, 
there  remains  this  one  section  which,  as 
there  are  no  more  numbers,  we  again 
designate  as  1 ;  but  this  is  a  higher  1  than 
the  first,  and  to  'distinguish  it  from  the 
first,  we  put  near  it  a  zero,  a  sign  which 
means  nothing." 

The  reason  for  using  the  figure  1  to 
designate  the  ten  is  not  a  matter  of  cause 
and  effect  "because  there  are  no  more 
numbers"  (figures),  but  it  involves  a  re- 
lation of  likeness  leading  to  a  relation 
of  the  particular  to  the  general.  The 


ITS    PSYCHOLOGY  21 

rod  is  composed  of  ten  sections  and  is 
now  to  be  considered  a  ten.  This  1  ten, 
the  same  as  in  the  case  of  1  child,  1  class, 
1  army  is  to  be  designated  by  the  figure 
one.  The  oneness  of  the  1  ten,  1  class, 
1  army,  etc.  is  to  be  classed  with  the  one- 
ness of  the  1  unit,  1  house,  1  chair,  etc. 
Then  follows  the  cause  and  effect  that  in 
order  that  we  may  know  whether  the 
figure  1  means  1  unit  or  1  ten,  we  give 
each  its  place.  If  we  have  only  1  ten 
with  no  unit,  we  place  the  naught  in  units 
place.  Instead  of  meaning  ''nothing" 
this  naught  has  a  very  definite  meaning, 
which  is  that  there  are  no  units. 

These  relations  are  easily  worked  out 
by  children  at  this  period  and  are  not 
only  extremely  interesting  to  them,  but 
are  most  significant  as  forming  the  basis 
for  all  further  auto-education  in  numera- 
tion and  computation. 

As  an  illustration  of  the  wonderful 
effect  produced  by  training  the  relating 
tendencies,  an  incident  from  the  ex- 
perience of  Miss  George  may  be  given. 
The  exercise  in  filling  in  with  the  colored 


22  AUTO-EDUCATION 

crayon  the  outlines  of  the  mental  insets, 
preparatory  to  writing,  was  in  progress. 
A  little  girl  had  on  her  paper  the  outline 
of  a  square  frame  in  which  was  another 
outline  of  a  smaller  square  to  be  filled  in 
with  a  color  to  be  chosen  by  the  child. 

The  only  direction  given  the  children 
was,  "Do  not  go  outside  the  lines  wHh 
your  crayon?." 

The  little  girl  in  question  chose  what 
proved  to  be  an  ugly  orange  color,  which 
she  proceeded  to  "lay  on"  with  vigorous 
strokes  mostly  curved  in  direction.  The 
result  was  a  thick  mass  of  dirty  color 
which  did  not  fill  the  space. 

No  word  of  criticism  on  her  work  was 
made,  nor  were  any  suggestions  as  to 
color  or  stroke  given.  The  child  pro- 
ceeded according  to  her  own  idea,  and 
after  six  or  eight  designs  had  been  filled 
in,  each  of  which  was  an  improvement 
upon  the  preceeding  one,  produced  a 
design  which  was  beautiful  and  delicate 
in  color,  being  a  light  green  in  the  center 
with  a  corresponding  light  pink  frame, 


ITS    PSYCHOLOGY  23 

and  having  a  smooth  and  even  surface 
with  the  downward  parallel  strokes. 

In  her  first  attempt  at  filling  in,  the 
impulse  to  "lay  on"  the  color  swamped 
her  intellect.  The  charming  bit  of  auto- 
education  which  followed  lies  in  the  fact 
that  (1)  previous  exercises  in  telling  like- 
ness and  difference  in  color  had,  in  training 
the  power  to  relate,  brought  to  her  atten- 
tion colors  which  appealed  to  her  sense 
of  beauty;  (2)  the  exercise  of  the  relating 
tendency  with  regard  to  space  relations 
of  rough  and  smooth,  as  given  on  pages 
185,  186  "The  Montessori  Method,"  had 
acquainted  the  child  with  surfaces,  en- 
abling her  to  descriminate  a  smooth, 
even  surface. 

The  training  of  the  relating  tendencies 
in  regard  to  likeness  and  differences  in 
color  and  in  regard  to  space  relations  of 
rotigh  and  smooth  surfaces  provided  the 
means  for  a  self-education,  which  in  this 
instance  seems  truly  wonderful. 

Beside  the  indefinite  space  relations  of 
long,  large,  heavy,  etc.,  which  are  gained 
through  means  of  the  Montessori  material, 


24  AUTO-EDUCATION 

there  are  the  various  definite  space  rela 
tions  such  as,  yard,  quart,  pound,  etc. 
which  are  to  be  gained  through  the  use  of 
the  measures  of  the  denominate  number 
tables.  In  following  its  natural  tendency 
to  relate,  the  mind  needs  these  standards 
of  measurements,  and  attention  to  the 
problem  of  acquiring  them  should  succeed 
the  Montessori  work. 

There  is  only  one  method  of  gaining 
knowledge,  and  that  is  through  the  es- 
tablishment of  relations.  This  fact  must 
be  recognized  in  the  higher  as  well  as  the 
lower  grades.  A  thorough  comprehen- 
sion of  how  this  principle  works  would 
go  far  toward  enabling  teachers  to  adopt, 
through  their  own  initiative,  the  method 
of  auto-education. 

It  is  impossible,  however,  successfully 
to  train  teachers  in  the  method  of  auto- 
education  from  the  standpoint  of  the 
content  of  knowledge  alone.  Until  one 
gets  down  to  the  activity  itself,  by  which 
this  content  is  acquired,  the  problem  of 
"direction"  (teaching)  is  involved  in 
mystery.  Only  that  psychology  which 


ITS    PSYCHOLOGY  25 

takes  account  of  the  tendency  to  estab- 
lish relations  is  adaquate  to  serve  as  the 
basis  of  auto-education. 


II 

CONTENT  OF  KNOWLEDGE 

But  it  is  not  alone  the  recognition  of 
the  form  of  intellect  that  characterizes 
the  psychology  of  auto-education,  but 
the  new  meaning  which  has  been  given 
to  the  content  of  knowledge  is  to  be  con- 
sidered as  well. 

Sense  training  is,  indeed,  an  important 
matter,  but  this  sort  of  training  has  a  limit, 
and  this  fact  raises  the  question  of  what 
is  to  follow  sense  training. 

We  are  familiar  with  the  psychology 
that,  beginning  with  sensation  which 
gives  us  a  knowledge  of  the  properties  of 
objects,  passes  on  to  perception  which 
gives  the  knowledge  of  whole  objects  and 
so  on  to  conception  which  gives  us  the 
knowledge  of  classes  of  objects.  But  in 
order  to  get  the  real  meaning  of  life  and 
mind,  we  must  realize  that  animal  life 
taken  in  its  entirety,  exhibits  just  these 
(26) 


CONTENT    OF    KNOWLEDGE  27 

same  stages  in  a  developing  form  of  con- 
sciousness. It  is  this  fact  of  a  developing 
consciousness  that  gives  significance  to 
sense  training.  A  brief  statement  based 
upon  Romane's  "Essay  and  Origin  of 
Human  Faculty"  will  explain  what  is 
meant  by  a  "developing  consciousness". 
Mention  was  made  above  of  our  con- 
sciousness of  images  and  their  relations. 
Comparing  this  human  grade  of  intellect 
with  that  of  the  animals  next  below 
ourselves,  the  mammals,  birds,  frogs, 
and  fishes,  we  are  forced  to  conclude  from 
the  acts  of  these  animals,  that  they,  too, 
have  images  of  objects  and,  to  an  extent, 
of  their  relations;  e.  g.,  the  fish,  which  is 
the  lowest  of  the  vertebrates,  can  be 
trained  to  distinguish  between  pieces  of 
rice  paper  dyed  pink,  which  are  its  food, 
and  pieces  of  ordinary  white  paper,  so 
that  when  both  are  put  into  the  water  at 
the  same  time  the  fish  will  choose  the 
pink.  This  shows  what  Romanes  calls 
a  "sort  of  outward  generalization"  —  a 
tendency  to  relate  the  particular  to  the 
general.  This  process  is  similar  to  our 


28  AUTO-EDUCATION 

own  act  of  generalization,  although  in 
the  lower  animals  mentioned  above,  it 
is  limited  to  the  objects  which  are  present 
to  the  senses.  These  animals  cannot 
image  objects  which  they  have  never  seen ; 
and  also  not  having  language  by  which  the 
generalizing  or  conceptual  power,  as  it  is 
called  in  its  perfected  state,  is  greatly 
extended,  these  lower  animals  lack  the 
element  of  self-consciousness.  Through 
this  power,  man  looks  upon  his  inner 
world  of  images,  ideas,  concepts,  as  the 
animal  looks  upon  the  outer  world.  Man's 
knowledge  is  not  limited  to  the  things  he 
has  seen:  with  the  system  of  words,  which 
are  symbols  of  things,  he  arrives  at  the 
knowledge  of  things  he  has  not  seen. 
Man  knows  things  by  classes.  This  is 
the  conceptual  grade  of  consciousness. 
The  higher  animals  are  conscious  of  ob- 
jects as  individuals,  which  is  the  percep- 
tual grade  of  consciousness. 

Considering  now  the  lowest  forms  of 
life,  the  one-celled  microscopic  forms, 
such  as  bacteria,  the  familiar  amoeba, 
and  the  like,  we  find  that,  though  through- 


CONTENT    OF    KNOWLEDGE  29 

out  life  they  are  only  microscopic  cells  of 
protoplasm,  yet  each  has  a  consciousness. 
The  amoeba  has  the  consciousness  of 
touch,  for  if  touched,  it  will  move.  It  is 
sensitive  also  to  light,  heat,  and  chemical 
forces,  which  indicates  the  presence  in 
consciousness  of  other  sensations  beside 
that  of  touch.  These  animals  are  con- 
scious of  the  properties  of  objects— not 
of  whole  objects.  This  is  the  sensation 
grade  of  consciousness. 

It  has  not  always  been  allowed  that 
these  lower  forms  of  life  have  conscious- 
ness. In  fact,  Descartes  and  other  phil- 
osophers have  maintained  that  these  ani- 
mals were  mere  automata.  But  how 
does  one  know  that  another  person  has 
thoughts  and  feelings  ?  If  a  person  were 
to  lie  perfectly  motionless  for  a  period  of 
days,  supposing  such  a  thing  possible, 
one  would  judge  him  to  be  unconscious, 
though  he  might  be  engaged  in  very  active 
thinking.  The  only  reason  for  supposing 
that  other  persons  have  thoughts  and 
feelings  similar  to  our  own  is  because 
under  similar  circumstances  they  act  as 


30  AUTO-EDUCATION 

we  do ;  we  judge  of  their  thoughts  by  what 
they  do.  In  the  same  way,  judging  by 
the  behavior  of  the  lower  life  forms,  we 
conclude  that  consciousness  does  exist 
in  the  form  of  simple  sensations;  although 
just  what  a  consciousness  consisting  of 
sensations  alone  without  giving  images 
would  be  like,  it  would  be  difficult  for  us 
to  imagine. 

The  first  manifestation  of  sensory  con- 
sciousness is  undoubtedly  the  sensation 
of  touch.  Then  other  sensations,  such 
as  taste,  smell,  vision  of  light  and  dark- 
ness are  added;  or  rather,  unfolded  from 
the  mind,  for  all  of  the  forms  of  con- 
sciousness are  peculiarly  the  gift  of  the 
mind,  as  Edward  Carpenter  so  beauti- 
fully shows: 

"Everyone,"  he  says,  "has  experienced 
the  magic  of  the  musician,  that  out  of 
three  sounds  he  frames,  not  a  fourth, 
but  a  star.  The  three  first  notes  are 
mere  sounds,  noises;  but  with  the  fourth, 
the  phrase,  the  melody,  the  meaning 
descends  upon  us  from  within.  An  an- 
swer comes  from  the  background  of  our 


CONTENT    OF    KNOWLEDGE  31 

minds,  which  transforms  mere  noise  into 
music. 

''So  it  is  writh  the  mind  of  the  lowest 
life  forms  of  a  single  cell,  perhaps  the 
sense  of  touch  has  awakened  within  it,  but 
no  more.  Presently  another  sensation  of 
touch  and  many  more,  but  still  no  growth 
of  consciousness.  Then  one  day  the  sense 
of  likeness  between  them  arrives.  And 
it  arrives  from  within.  The  mind  of  that 
cell  has  reached  the  degree  of  conscious- 
ness represented  by  the  perception  of 
likeness  and  difference."* 

From  such  seemingly  small  beginnings 
consciousness  has  developed  through  the 
various  grades  of  sensation,  perception, 
and  conception. 

In  the  knowledge  given  by  each  suc- 
ceeding grade  of  intellect,  there  appears 
an  ever  increasing  unity.  The  sensa- 
tional grade  gives  the  knowledge  of  the 
properties  of  objects,  the  perceptual  grade 
gives  the  knowledge  of  whole  objects, 

*  Note.  This  quotation  seems  to  give  a  sense  of  self- 
development,  not  necessarily  an  accurate  statement  of  the 
order  in  which  mental  processes  develop. 


32  AUTO-EDUCATION 

while  the  conceptual  grade  gives  the 
knowledge  of  classes.  Beyond  this  last 
grade,  however,  is  one  other  and  greater 
unity — the  union  of  all  classes  of  objects, 
the  cosmos.  Is  there  any  grade  of  con- 
sciousness which  gives  this  unity?  Un- 
doubtedly there  is,  although  it  may  not 
be  through  intellect  alone  that  it  is  known. 

"By  intuition,  we  come  to  a  knowledge 
of  the  universe  as  a  whole  and  to  our 
own  identity  with  this  whole  and  a  sense 
of  kinship  with  all  life."  This  form  of 
consciousness  is  called  the  "Cosmos  Con- 
sciousness" by  Edward  Carpenter,  who 
says: 

"Of  the  existence  of  this  form  of  con- 
sciousness there  is  evidence  all  down 
history;  and  witnesses,  far  removed  from 
each  other  in  time  and  space  and  race 
and  language  and  perfectly  unaware  of 
each  other's  utterance,  agree  so  remark- 
ably in  their  testimony  that  there  is  left 
no  doubt  that  the  experience  is  as  much 
a  matter  of  fact  as  any  other  human  ex- 
perience, though  the  capacity  for  it  is, 
of  course,  not  universal.  But  it  is  not 


CONTENT    OF    KNOWLEDGE  33 

only  the  great  prophets  and  seers  who 
prove  to  us  the  existence  of  this  stage  of 
consciousness.  For  to  almost  all  man- 
kind, flashes  of  the  same  thing  come  in 
those  moments  of  exaltation  of  intuition 
which  form  the  basis  of  religion,  art  and 
music." 

In  both  the  ancient  and  modern  drama, 
we  find  instances  of  the  cosmic  conscious- 
ness portrayed,  for  example,  in  the  Hindu 
drama  "Sa  Kuntala",  and  in  the  drama 
of  "Peleas  and  Melisand"  by  Maeterlinck. 

While  Edward  Carpenter's  "Art  of 
Creation"  gives  an  exceedingly  interesting 
account  of  the  cosmic  consciousness,  it 
is  in  the  "Creative  Evolution"  of  Henri 
Bergson  that  we  find  the  most  scientific 
treatment  of  the  subject. 

In  order  to  get  the  full  meaning  of  Berg- 
son's  idea,  however,  one  needs  to  realize 
more  fully  than  ordinarily  the  part  that 
life  plays  in  the  environment.  Let  me, 
therefore,  call  attention  to  a  few  facts 
concerning  life. 

Think  for  a  moment  what  life  can  do! 
Here,  we  will  imagine,  is  a  speck  of  pro- 


34  AUTO-EDUCATION 

toplasm,  the  material  out  of  which  the 
living  parts  of  all  animals  and  plants  is 
made.  It  is  so  tiny  that  it  has  to  be 
magnified  many  times  before  it  can  be 
seen.  It  is  called  a  cell,  not  because  it 
is  hollow  like  the  cell  of  a  honey  comb; 
it  is  a  tiny  mass  answering  more  to  the 
honey  in  the  cell  of  the  comb.  This  cell 
of  protoplasm  may  be  one  of  the  cells  of 
a  growing  bone  or  of  a  muscle,  or  it  may 
be  a  nerve  cell,  for  the  body  is  built  up 
in  part  by  just  such  cells.  Again  this 
particle  may  be  the  cell  of  a  dog,  of  an 
oyster,  or  of  a  tree  or  mushroom,  or  it 
may  be  a  tiny  microbe  of  typhoid  fever, 
or  an  amoeba  living  with  other  micro- 
scopic animals  and  plants  out  in  the  lake. 
It  may  be  any  of  these  or  a  host  of  things 
not  mentioned;  but  whichever  it  is,  wher- 
ever it  is  found,  it  has  the  same  general 
characteristics.  This  little  speck  of  proto- 
plasm— this  cell — has  life  and  because  of 
this,  it  can  do  certain  things. 

Protoplasm  can  move  of  itself  in  any 
direction,  even  contrary  to  gravity;  it 
can  take  in  dead  matter  which  is  its  food 


CONTENT    OF    KNOWLEDGE  35 

and  separate  the  chemical  constituents 
of  such  food  stuff,  recombining  the  mole- 
cules so  as  to  form  more  protoplasm;  then 
this  protoplasm  can  form  other  substances 
like  muscles,  skin,  bones,  or  wood  and 
other  plant  tissues.  Life  in  the  proto- 
plasm directs  the  chemical  forces,  making 
and  unmaking  compounds  of  molecules. 
Think  of  the  part  life  has  played  in  di- 
recting the  forces  of  nature  so  as  to  build 
up  the  complex  forms  we  see  about  us. 
Consider  for  a  moment  the  things  in  an 
ordinary  living  room.  The  carpet  on  the 
floor,  every  fibre,  every  thread  and  every 
particle  of  lint  in  it  was  once  living  pro- 
toplasm in  some  plant  or  animal;  the 
floor  under  the  carpet,  every  particle  of 
it  was  once  living  protoplasm  in  the  body 
of  some  tree;  every  article  of  furniture, 
all  the  draperies,  the  paper  on  the  walls, 
all  were  once  living  protoplasm.  Even 
the  plaster  on  the  walls  was  once  living 
in  the  bones,  shells,  and  other  hard  parts 
of  animals.  Again,  think  of  the  city,  the 
houses,  street  cars,  wagons;  the  material 
of  each  was  once,  in  great  part,  living 


36  AUTO-EDUCATION 

protoplasm.  We  are  accustomed  to  look 
at  these  objects  as  so  many  material 
things  which  minister  to  our  comfort  or 
discomfort,  but  what  I  wish  to  point  out 
is  that  all  these  things  are  the  manifesta- 
tions of  life — have  been  built  up  molecule 
by  molecule  by  life,  by  that  mighty  im- 
pulse with  which  life  moves  through 
matter.  The  material  of  these  things  has 
been  organized  or  built  up  by  the  life  of 
the  cell,  and  then  this  material  has  been 
used  by  man  in  manufacturing  tools, 
houses,  and  other  things. 

According  to  Mr.  Bergson,  "Life,  that 
is  to  say,  consciousness  launched  into 
matter,"  organizes  matter,  i.  e.,  it  builds 
up  the  bodies  of  animals  and  plants. 
Now,  in  this  process  of  the  organization 
of  matter  by  life,  there  are  two  kinds  of 
things  to  know:  first,  the  matter  as  or- 
ganized; and  second,  the  movement  of 
life  in  the  act  of  organizing.  The  necessity 
of  attending  to  these  two  phases  has 
resulted  in  splitting  consciousness  into 
intellect,  which  knows  matter;  and  in- 
tuition, which  knows  life. 


CONTENT    OF    KNOWLEDGE  37 

For  reasons  which  I  will  not  enter  into 
here,  "intuition,  which  seems  preferable 
to  intelligence"  has  developed  along  the 
line  of  instincts.  While  this  line  gives  a 
very  narrow  range  of  knowledge,  in  some 
instances  the  knowledge  seems  marvellous. 
This  is  shown  in  insect  life,  where  in- 
stinct seems  to  have  found  its  culmination. 
The  insect,  for  example,  that  stings 
its  prey  (the  larva  of  another  insect)  in 
those  nine  motor  nerve  centres,  which 
paralyzes  without  killing,  and  so  furnishes 
fresh  meat  for  its  own  larva,  knows  the 
place  to  sting,  as  Bergson  says,  "by  an 
intuition  which  is  probably  like  what  we 
call  divining  sympathy". 

On  the  other  hand,  "Consciousness  in 
man",  says  Bergson,  "is  pre-eminently 
intellect.  It  may  have  been,  it  ought, 
so  it  seems,  to  have  been  also  intuition." 
Intuition  and  intellect  represent  two  op- 
posite directions  of  the  work  of  conscious- 
ness: intuition  goes  in  the  very  direction 
of  life,  it  knows  the  organizing  process — 
it  knows  life  from  the  inside;  intellect 
goes  in  the  opposite  direction  and  knows 


38  AUTO-EDUCATION 

matter  after  it  has  been  formed.  "A 
complete  and  perfect  humanity,"  con- 
tinues Bergson,  " would  be  that  in  which 
these  two  forms  of  conscious  activity 
should  attain  their  full  development." 
We,  as  human  beings,  have  intuition, 
but  it  is  vague  and  "above  all  discon- 
tinuous". "It  is  a  lamp  almost  extin- 
guished, which  only  glimmers  now  and 
then  for  a  few  moments  at  most.  But 
it  glimmers  wherever  a  vital  interest  is 
at  stake.  On  our  personality,  on  our 
liberty,  on  the  place  we  occupy  in  the 
whole  of  nature,  on  our  origin  and  perhaps 
also  on  our  destiny,  it  throws  a  light 
feeble  and  vacillating,  but  which  none 
the  less  pierces  the  darkness  of  the  night 
in  which  the  intellect  leaves  us. 

"These  fleeting  intuitions  philosophy 
should  seize:  first  to  sustain  them,  then 
to  expand  them  and  so  unite  them  to- 
gether. The  more  it  advances  in  this 
work,  the  more  will  it  perceive  that  in- 
tuition is  mind  itself,  and  in  a  certain 
sense,  life  itself." 

Intuition,    as    "divining  sympathy",    is 


CONTENT    OF    KNOWLEDGE  39 

the  way  of  knowing  which  is  characteris- 
tic of  instinct  and  is  therefore  common 
to  all  animals.  But  the  bodies  of  animals 
are  so  fashioned  that  they  can  use  only 
an  infinitely  small  number  of  objects 
and  therefore  their  knowledge  is. extremely 
limited.  "Consciousness  is  held  in  a  vice," 
says  Bergson. 

Intelligence,  on  the  other  hand,  has  a 
brain  that  can  build  an  unlimited  number 
of  motor  mechanisms  and  a  body  that 
can  use  these  mechanisms,  in  reacting 
to  any  number  of  things  and  so  can  over- 
come all  obstacles.  In  this,  consciousness 
has  found  its  freedom  to  develop. 

While  intuition  seems  to  have  waned 
during  this  progress  of  intellect,  great 
possibilities  for  it  have  accumulated 
through  the  development  of  intellect  i.  e. 
through  the  accumulation  of  ideas  and 
concepts.  We  seem  now  to  be  approach- 
ing the  time  when  the  two  streams,  in- 
tellect and  intuition,  shall  merge  again 
in  one  as  they  were  merged  in  the  begin- 
ning— through  with  their  potentialities 
now  partially  realized.  This  merging  is 


40  AUTO-EDUCATION 

the  problem  of  the  developing  conscious- 
ness.    How  is  it  to  be  achieved? 

We  are  not  left  by  Bergson  without 
suggestions  concerning  this.  By  a  kind 
of  "sympathy"  the  insect  knows  the  one 
object  and  how  to  treat  this  one  object, 
which  is  to  be  the  food  for  its  young. 
"If  this  sympathy  could  extend  its  object 
and  also  reflect  upon  itself,  it  would  give 
us  the  key  to  vital  operations — just  as 
intelligence,  developed  and  disciplined, 
guides  us  into  matter."  Instinct  does  not 
reflect,  does  not  form  concepts,  is  not 
self-conscious.  By  human  intuition  Berg- 
son  means  "instinct  that  has  become 
self-conscious,  capable  of  reflecting  upon 
its  objects,  and  of  enlarging  it  indefinitely" 
— that  is  of  applying  this  knowledge  4o 
other  things.  The  artist  who  seeks  to 
know  the  intention  of  life  that  runs  through 
the  features  if  his  model  by  placing  himself 
back  within  the  object  by  a  kind  of  sym- 
pathy, exericses  this  intuition,  in  a  measure. 
"An  inquiry  turned  in  the  same  direction 
as  art,  which  would  take  life  in  general  for 
its  object  would,  through  this  intuition, 


CONTENT    OF    KNOWLEDGE  41 

enable  us  to  grasp  what  it  is  that  intelli- 
gence fails  to  give  us."  "Then,  by  the 
sympathetic  communication  which  it 
establishes  between  us  and  the  rest  of 
the  living,  by  the  expansion  of  our  con- 
sciousness which  it  brings  about,  it  in- 
troduces us  into  life's  own  domain,  which 
is  reciprocal  interpenetration,  endlessly 
continued  creation.  But  though  it  there- 
by transcends  intelligence,  it  is  from 
intelligence  that  has  come  the  push  that 
has  made  it  rise  to  the  point  it  has  reached. 
Without  intelligence,  it  would  have  re- 
mained in  the  form  of  instinct,  riveted 
to  the  special  object  of  its  practical  in- 
terest." Herein  lies  the  significance  of 
a  developing  consciousness. 

Intelligence,  working  its  way  up  to 
freedom  through  the  grades  of  sensation, 
preception,  and  conception,  meets  again 
the  question  of  the  stream  of  life,  but 
having  freed  itself,  in  a  measure,  from 
matter  through  its  conceptual  activities, 
it  can  now,  as  Bergson  says,  "turn  inward 
on  itself,  and  awaken  the  potentialities 
of  intuition  which  still  slumber  within  it." 


42  AUTO-EDUCATION 

Intelligence,  then,  developed  to  its  farth- 
est extent  gives  intuition  the  opportunity 
to  establish  a  "sympathetic  communica- 
tion between  ourselves  and  the  rest  of 
the  living",  and  by  so  "expanding  our 
consciousness",  brings  us  to  the  knowledge 
of  life  itself. 

Undoubtedly,  the  work  of  education, 
then,  is  to  develop  an  intellect  that  can 
"give  the  push".  Here  again,  suggestions 
from  Bergson  are  not  wanting. 

The  superiority  of  man's  consciousness 
over  that  of  animals  is  due,  he  says,  to 
three  things:  first,  to  a  brain  which  enables 
man  to  build  an  unlimited  number  of 
motor  mechanisms  with  which  to  react 
to  the  things  of  the  environment;  second, 
to  language  (concepts),  which  partially 
frees  man's  intellect  from  material  things; 
third,  "to  social  life,  which  stores  and 
preserves  efforts  as  language  stores  and 
preserves  thought,  fixing  thereby  a  mean 
level  to  which  individuals  must  raise 
themselves  at  the  outset,  and  by  this 
initial  stimulation  prevents  the  average 
man  from  slumbering  and  drives  the 


CONTENT    OF    KNOWLEDGE  43 

superior  man  to  mount  still  higher.  But 
our  brain,  our  society,  our  language  are 
but  the  external  and  various  signs  of  one 
and  the  same  internal  superiority.  They 
tell,  each  after  its  manner,  the  unique, 
exceptional  success  which  life  has  won." 
Here  is  the  very  essence  of  the  doctrine 
of  auto-education. 

The  brain,  a  physiological  instrument 
both  formed  and  used  by  life;  language, 
an  immaterial  instrument  fashioned  by 
life  and  used  for  the  expression  and  storage 
of  ideas;  and  society,  instituted  by  life 
for  the  storage  of  efforts — with  these 
accomplishments  to  its  credit,  may  we 
not  trust  life  to  educate  itself?  All 
education  is,  of  necessity,  auto-education. 
The  work  of  the  teacher  is  that  of  direc- 
tion, first,  through  the  means  of  a  suitable 
environment;  and  second,  through  direct 
appeal  to  the  mind. 

The  three  things  mentioned  above, 
brain,  language,  and  social  life,  discover 
to  us  the  paths  by  which  the  young  are 
to  be  guided  to  greater  achievements. 
First,  there  must  be  the  physiological 


44  AUTO-EDUCATION 

development  of  the  brain  and  body; 
second,  there  must  be  opportunity  for 
the  exercise  of  those  impulses  to  activity 
which  seize  upon  the  "efforts  stored  by 
society";  third,  intellect  must  be  led  to 
freedom  through  means  of  language  (con- 
cepts) from  a  knowledge  of  things  seen 
to  a  knowledge  of  things  not  seen. 

With  regard  to  the  first,  we  must  look 
to  "Pedagogical  Hygiene,"  "Pedagogical 
Anthropology"  and  "Experimental  Psy- 
chology". As  to  the  second,  the  child 
is  a  "consciousness  launched  into  matter", 
and  the  impulses  due  to  this  impulsion 
are  vital  to  development;  the  material 
impulses  building  its  body,  the  personal 
impulses  determining  its  individuality, 
and  the  social  impulses  appropriating  and 
continuing  the  efforts  of  preceeding  gene- 
rations. Our  more  immediate  concern 
here  is  with  the  third,  the  intellect. 

Sense  training  is  the  first  step  toward 
this  unfolding  of  intelligence,  and  while 
this  step  is  very  important  it  must  soon 
be  followed  by  the  more  important  prob- 
lem of  developing  the  conceptual  form  of 


CONTENT    OF    KNOWLEDGE  45 

consciousness  which  constitutes  the  strict- 
ly human  grade  of  intellect  and  is  the 
path  by  which  consciousness  frees  itself. 
As  sense  training  is  accomplished  through 
the  tendency  to  establish  relations,  so 
the  training  of  the  conceptual  power  is 
determined  in  the  same  manner.  It  was 
stated  in  the  beginning  that  the  initial 
step  in  conception  is  nomenclature — 
learning  the  names  of  things  seen;  but  as 
this  knowledge  advances,  the  relating  of 
\  like  with  like,  of  the  particular  to  the 
general  and  of  cause  and  effect,  makes  pos- 
sible a  knowledge  of  things  unseen — such 
for  example  as  geographical  and  historical 
knowledge.  This  relating,  like  that  in 
sense-training,  is  to  be  carried  on  as  far 
as  possible  as  a  matter  of  auto-education. 
This  would  be  determined  by  the  environ- 
ment provided  and  by  the  method  of 
directing  the  psychic  activity. 

The  fact  of  thus  developing  the  con- 
ceptual form  of  consciousness  through 
means  of  the  establishment  of  relations, 
gives  meaning  to  the  otherwise  unintelli- 
gible opening  paragraphs  of  Montessori's 


46  AUTO-EDUCATION 

chapter  on  "Intellectual  Education",  where 
she  says:  "The  sense  exercises  consti- 
tute a  species  of  auto- education,  which, 
if  these  exercises  be  many  times  repeated, 
leads  to  a  perfecting  of  the  child's  psycho- 
sensory  processes.  The  directress  must 
intervene  to  lead  the  child  from  sensa- 
tions to  ideas — from  the  concrete  to  the 
abstract,  and  to  the  association  of  ideas. 
For  this,  she  should  use  a  method  tending 
to  isolate  the  inner  attention  of  the  child 
and  to  fix  it  upon  the  perceptions — as  in 
the  first  lessons  his  object  in  attention 
was  fixed,  through  isolation,  upon  single 
stimuli. 

"For  this,  knowledge  of  a  special  tech- 
nique is  necessary.  The  educator  must, 
'to  the  greatest  possible  eoctent,  limit  his 
intervention;  yet  he  must  not  allow  the 
child  to  weary  himself  in  an  undue  effort 
of  auto- education.' 

"It  is  here,  that  the  factor  of  individual 
limitation  and  differing  degrees  of  per- 
ception are  most  keenly  felt  in  the  teacher. 
In  other  words,  in  the  quality  of  this 
intervention  lies  the  art  which  makes 


CONTENT    OF    KNOWLEDGE  47 

up  the  individuality  of  the  teacher." 
'To  lead  the  child  from  the  education 
of  senses  to  ideas"  as  Montessori  quotes 
from  Seguin,  does  indeed,  require  a  "spec- 
ial technique",  but  what  is  this  "special 
technique' '  ? 

I  fail  to  find  any  explanation  in  the 
writings  of  Montessori  that  would  help 
a  teacher  to  gain  this  much-to-be-desired 
technique.  To  possess  it  or  not  to  possess 
it  is  a  matter  of  ''individuality"  in  the 
teacher,  according  to  Montessori.  The 
question  of  when  and  how  the  teacher 
should  "intervene"  to  lead  the  child  from 
"sensations  to  ideas"  is  perfectly  clear 
and  simple,  however,  when  considered 
from  the  point  of  view  of  the  tendency  to 
establish  relations,  as  will  be  shown  in 
Part  III,  but  it  can  not  be  explained  on 
the  basis  of  the  old  psychology. 

A  psychology  that  is  adequate  to  explain 
auto-education  must  first  describe  the 
process  by  which  the  content  of  knowl- 
edge is  acquired;  and  second,  it  must  de- 
fine the  relation  and  meaning  of  human 
consciousness  in  regard  to  all  life. 


48  AUTO-EDUCATION 

Above  all  others,  the  teacher  is  one 
whose  mind  should  be  "set  in  the 
direction  of  life";  she  should  know  life  as 
well  as  matter,  and  though  she  may  not 
\  achieve  the  great  "divining  sympathy" 
which  is  "intuition",  she  should  know  that 
such  a  form  of  consciousness  exists  and  that 
all  human  life  is  working  toward  that  goal. 

This  is  what  Montessori  calls  the  "spirit" 
of  the  teacher.  "We  must  make  of  them 
(teachers)  worshipers  and  interpreters  of 
the  spirit  of  nature."  This  cannot  be 
done  so  long  as  life  is  thought  of  as  con- 
sisting of  unrelated  groups  of  individuals. 
If  a  teacher  does  not  herself  possess  in- 
tuition in  some  degree,  she  can  be  pre- 
pared in  "spirit"  only  as  she  comes  to 
know  the  significance  of  a  developing 
consciousness — the  meaning  of  all  life. 

The  tendency  to  establish  relations  is 
the  form  of  self- activity  which,  if  recog- 
nized and  directed  both  in  its  early  and 
later  stages,  will  lead,  through  sensation 
and  preception  to  a  grade  of  intellect  far 
superior  to  that  which  is  now  produced—- 
even, peradventure,  to  intuition. 


Ill 

LEARNING  AND  TEACHING  FROM 
THE   POINT  OF  VIEW  OF  ES- 
TABLISHING RELATIONS 

The  real  significance  of  a  psychology 
that  recognizes  a  developing  consciousness 
and  that  discriminates  between  the  form 
and  the  content  of  knowledge  is  to  be 
seen  in  the  application  of  these  principles 
to  teaching. 

Such  intuition  as  Montessori  has  shown 
in  developing  her  method  of  auto-educa- 
tion is  of  rare  occurence ;  however,  through 
the  intellectual  approach  to  the  subject 
something  akin  to  this  intuition  may  be 
achieved  by  those  who  greatly  desire  it. 
Certainly  to  have  thought  out  clearly 
what  the  processes  of  learning  and  teaching 
are,  is  one  step  toward  directing  such 
processes.  While  a  Scientific  Pedagogy 
must,  indeed,  rest  upon  the  observation 
of  children  developing  under  conditions 
of  freedom,  it  is  extremely  important 
(49) 


50  AUTO-EDUCATION 

that  these  observations  be  interpreted  ac- 
according  to  the  most  advanced  psy- 
chology. 

Such  a  general  statement  as,  "The  ten- 
dency to  establish  relations  is  the  funda- 
mental principle  of  auto-education,"  is 
of  little  use  as  an  aid  to  teaching  until 
this  principle  has  been  analyzed.  In 
order  to  apply  this  principle  in  teaching 
the  process  of  establishing  relations  must 
be  described,  as  also  the  method  of  di- 
recting this  process. 

There  are  various  kinds  of  relations 
which  things  sustain  to  one  another. 
Among  those  to  be  considered  here  are 
relations  of  space,  time,  likeness,  difference, 
the  particular  to  the  general  and  cause  and 
effect.  Space  relations  are  expressed  by 
such  words  as  on,  under,  between,  larger, 
foot,  inch,  quart,  pound,  etc;  time  rela- 
tions by  such  words  as  early,  year,  day, 
before,  four  o'clock,  etc.  Examples  of 
the  other  relations  will  readily  occur  to 
one. 

The  sensing  of  a  relation  is  a  peculiar 
experience.  Take  for  example,  the  word 


ESTABLISHING    RELATIONS  51 

beside.  What  is  there  in  the  material 
world  that  answers  to  it?  You  sit  beside 
your  friend.  What  does  the  word  mean? 
Clearly,  nothing  apart  from  the  two 
.persons.  How,  then,  can  it  be  sensed? 
This  is  the  way  the  mind  does  it.  The 
attention  is  focussed  first  upon  the  friend, 
we  will  say,  then  upon  one's  self,  passing 
alternately  from  one  to  the  other  several 
times;  the  effect  of  this  passing  is  the 
awareness  (i.e.  the  sensing)  of  the  rela- 
tion. Again,  suppose  one  were  asked, 
"How  long  are  the  lead  pencils  used  in 
school?"  Immediately  the  standards  of 
long  measure  come  to  mind;  attention  is 
focussed  upon  the  mental  image  of  the 
length  of  the  pencil  and  then  upon  the 
mental  standard  of  inches  following  which 
the  mind  judges,  "Pencils  are  six  inches 
long."  Relations  of  likeness  and  dif- 
ference are  sensed  in  a  similar  manner. 
For  example,  in  telling  a  color,  the  child 
.  focusses  attention  alternately  upon  the 
color  seen,  then  upon  his  mental  standards 
of  color,  naming  the  color  according  to 
the  likeness  perceived. 


52  AUTO-EDUCATION 

With  respect  to  the  relation  of  cause 
and  effect,  one  may  experience  a  cause 
and  then  try  to  forecast  its  effect;  or  one 
may  experience  an  effect  and  then  en- 
deavor to  determine  the  cause.  In  either 
case  one  holds  in  mind  the  event  ex- 
perienced, and  by  means  of  attention 
searches  either  in  the  mind  or  among 
outward  phenomena  for  another  fact  which 
will  satisfy  the  mind  as  being  the  other 
term.  For  example,  one  experiences  hot 
weather  in  summer.  What  is  the  cause 
of  this?  Since  the  earth  receives  its  heat 
from  the  sun,  hot  summers  must  be  due 
in  some  way  to  the  relation  of  the  sun  to 
the  earth.  Influenced  by  other  exper- 
riences  with  heat,  the  nearness  of  the  earth 
to  the  sun  may  first  be  suggested  as  the 
cause  of  hot  summers;  however,  this  idea 
must  be  discarded,  for  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
the  earth  is  farther  from  the  sun  in  sum- 
mer. Further  search  reveals  the  true 
cause  to  be  that  the  angle  at  which  the 
rays  of  the  sun  strike  our  section  of  the 
earth  is  more  nearly  vertical  in  summer. 

With  reference   to  the  relation  of  the 


ESTABLISHING    RELATIONS  53 

particular  to  the  general,  the  same  passing 
of  the  attention  from  one  thing  to  another 
takes  place  which  results  in  the  establish- 
ment of  the  relations  of  likeness,  but  there 
is  an  additional  experience  that  quite 
transcends  the  sensing  of  other  relations. 
To  illustrate,  one  notices  how  the  little 
brook  which  passes  the  door  washes  the 
dirt  from  the  hills,  distribtiting  part  along 
the  submerged  meadow  land,  and  with 
the  finer  particles  building  a  mud  bank 
where  it  meets  the  current  of  the  river. 
Other  brooks  are  seen  to  do  the  same  thing. 
The  mind  passing  from  one  instance  to 
each  succeeding  case  senses  the  similarity 
(likeness)  of  the  action  of  the  water;  then 
comes  the  exclusively  human  feat  of 
mind;  for,  having  sensed  the  similarity 
of  action  in  the  cases  it  has  perceived,  it, 
in  imagination,  passes  to  other  instances 
not  seen  and  generalizes,  "This  action  is 
true  of  all  rivers."  This  power  to  sense 
the  relation  of  the  particluar  to  the  gen- 
eral extends  one's  knowledge  from  an  ex- 
perienced environment  to  the  limits  of 
the  unseen. 


54  AUTO-EDUCATION 

This  passing  of  the  mind  from  the  seen 
to  the  unseen  is  the  exercise  which  the 
intellect  needs  in  order  to  develop  this 
human  form  of  consciousness — the  con- 
ceptual form.  This  can  not  be  done  by 
memorizing  subject  matter.  The  images 
of  the  individuals  nrust  be  present  to  the 
consciousness  in  order  that  it  may  pass 
on  to  class  consciousness. 

This  establishment  of  relations  is  im- 
portant, not  only  from  the  psychological 
point  of  view,  but  also  from  the  physio- 
logical point  of  view;  for  it  is  this  exercise 
which  tends  to  develop  the  brain  cells 
and  builds  up  the  net  work  of  association 
fibers  which  are  necessary  to  mental 
development. 

In  this  description  of  the  relating  pro- 
cesses, an  important  fact  is  to  be  noted, 
viz.,  the  mind  establishes  relations  (1) 
between  the  objects  or  events  of  the 
material  world,  (2)  between  the  mental 
images  of  objects  or  events,  (3)  between 
objects  and  mental  images  taken  together. 
This  is  an  important  distinction  to  make; 
for  while  the  basis  of  our  knowledge  is 


ESTABLISHING    RELATIONS  55 

gained  through  means  of  objects  or  events, 
by  far  the  greater  part  of  it  is  gained 
through  means  of  mental  images. 

The  objects  of  the  didactic  material 
used  in  the  Montessori  System  are  of  such 
a  nature  as  to  appeal  to  these  tendencies 
in  the  earliest  stages  of  their  development. 
The  accurate  discriminations  of  the  vari- 
ous relations,  together  with  the  names 
learned  in  connection  with  this  material, 
provide  the  child  with  the  means  of  con- 
tinuing, unaided,  his  '  'explorations  of 
the  environment".  The  little  child  men- 
tioned in  Montessori' s  book,  who  discover- 
ed that  the  sky  was  "blue",  had  formed 
the  relating  habit,  and  had  also  acquired 
the  words  necessary  to  state  the  generali- 
zation she  had  spontaneously  made.  The 
names  are  a  very  necessary  feature  of 
the  development  of  this  tendency  toward 
generalizing — the  "outward  generalizing" 
as  Romanes  calls  it. 

This  objective  relating  goes  on  spon- 
taneously in  cases  where  the  relations  are 
quite  obvious,  but  where  the  relation  is 
obscure,  the  teacher  sometimes  finds  it 


56  AUTO-EDUCATION 

necessary  to  aid  the  child  in  observing 
them  through  appealing  to  his  mental 
images.  This  is  always  the  case  with 
regard  to  the  lesson  on  units  and  tens 
place  as  mentioned  above.  The  "oneness" 
of  a  group  is  not  realized  until  similar 
instances  such  as,  "1  class",  "1  family", 
"1  army"  are  called  to  mind. 

It  is,  however,  in  that  stage  of  develop- 
ment when  the  mind,  passing  from  the 
outward  generalization,  comes  to  the 
period  of  conception  proper — that  stage 
in  which  the  mind  passes  from  the 
knowledge  of  the  seen  to  the  knowledge 
of  the  unseen — that  the  establishment 
of  relations  between  mental  images  begins 
to  play  a  more  important  role  in  the 
process  of  gaining  knowledge. 

The  awakening  of  this  power  is  a  great 
event  in  the  life  of  the  child.  It  is  of 
great  assistance  to  the  child  at  this  period 
to  have  him  make  use  wherever  possible 
of  memory  images  instead  of  objects.  For 
example,  a  conversation  in  which  the 
child  is  led  to  tell  his  experience  in  seeing 
grocers  and  other  merchants  measure 


ESTABLISHING    RELATIONS  57 

various  kinds  of  things  is  very  helpful 
to  the  child  in  forming  a  conception  of 
measurement.  The  use  of  memory  images 
is  one  step  toward  imaging  the  unseen. 
The  movement  of  the  mind  in  estab- 
lishing relations  between  mental  images  is 
the  same  as  in  the  case  of  objects,  though 
the  directing  of  the  activity  is  quite  dif- 
ferent, being  in  the  first  instance  a  matter 
of  determining  the  objects  of  the  environ- 
ment and  in  the  second  instance  a  matter 
of  determining  the  mental  images. 

The  problem  of  teaching  is  the  problem  of 
manipulating  mental  images 

This  is  not  so  difficult  as  it  may  appear, 
although  efficiency  in  this  art  requires 
study  and  practice  (not  practice  on 
children,  however).  In  the  establishment 
of  relations  through  means  of  mental 
images  two  things  are  to  be  considered, 
(1)  the  presence  of  images  in  conscious- 
ness, and  (2)  the  establishment  of  the 
relations  between  these  images. 

The  presence  of  ideas  in  consciousness 


58  AUTO-EDUCATION 

may  be  determined  through  means  of 
the  association  of  ideas. 

The  method  of  arousing  mental  images 
through  the  association  of  ideas  is  not 
to  be  confused  with  that  in  which  the 
ideas  are  stated  by  the  teacher.  In  dealing 
with  large  classes,  the  teacher  must  know 
that  every  child  images  the  proper  thing 
and  experiences  the  required  relations; 
otherwise  both  brain  and  mind  develop- 
ment is  retarded.  If  the  child  himself 
states  the  idea,  the  teacher  judges  with 
reason  that  he  has  the  necessary  images. 
(It  is  important  to  note  at  the  outset, 
that  it  is  sufficient  for  a  child  to  express 
an  idea  in  words  that  are  equivalent  to 
the  correct  words.  The  correct  expres- 
sion may  then  be  substituted  by  the 
teacher.) 

Through  associated  ideas,  then,  images 
are  to  be  brought  to  the  mind  of  the  child. 
For  example,  take  the  idea  of  fractions. 

The  equivalent  of  this  idea,  divided  into 
equal  parts,  is  associated  by  little  children 
with  "sharing",  so  that,  in  order  to  get  the 
child  to  image  the  idea  of  dividing,  one 


ESTABLISHING    RELATIONS  59 

could  ask,  "It  you  wished  to  share  your 
apple  with  some  little  friend,  what  would 
you  have  to  do?"  To  which  the  child 
would  reply,  "I  should  have  to  divide  the 
apple."  In  making  this  answer  the  child  is 
obliged  to  image  the  dividing  of  the  apple. 

The  "equality  of  parts"  is  associated 
with  " being  fair",  so  that  if  the  teacher 
asks,  "If  you  were  very  fair  in  dividing 
the  apple,  how  would  the  pieces  compare 
in  size?"  the  child  must  mentally  compare 
the  two  pieces,  seeing  the  equality  of  them. 
In  this  illustration  the  teacher  makes  use 
o'f  the  memory  image  (associated  idea) 
of  "sharing",  to  get  the  child  to  sense  the 
space  relation  of  dividing,  and  she  makes 
use  of  the  memory  image  of  "being  fair" 
to  get  the  child  to  sense  the  space  rela- 
tion of  equality.  It  is  important  to  note 
that  in  doing  this  questions  were  used  to 
which  each  child  thinks  an  answer. 

The  vital  point  in  the  problem  of  ques- 
tioning is  exemplified  in  each  of  these 
questions.  "If  you  wished  to  share  your 
apple  with  some  little  friend,  what  would 
you  have  to  do?"  The  child  images 


60  AUTO-EDUCATION 

himself  and  the  other  child  and  the  apple ; 
his  mind  then  passes  from  the  one  apple 
to  the  two  children  and  he  answers,  "I 
would  have  to  divide  the  apple."  The 
important  point  to  be  noted  is  that  the 
subject-matter  of  the  question  expresses 
the  associated  idea,  viz.,  "sharing",  and 
not  the  relation,  "divided".  Similarly, 
in  the  question  with  regard  to  the  equality 
of  parts  the  subject  matter  expresses 
"being  fair",  the  associated  idea,  not 
the  relation  equal. 

The  question  which  could  be  used  to 
establish  the  fact  that  "the  roots  of  the 
plant  take  up  the  water"  may  serve  as 
another  illustration.  We  will  suppose 
that  the  teacher  asks,  "What  part  of  the 
plant  takes  up  the  water?"  But  the 
children  do  not  know  this  and  so,  through 
means  of  associated  ideas,  she  then  estab- 
lishes the  new  relation.  The  two  associat- 
ed ideas  are  pouring  water  on  the  din  and 
the  roots  are  down  in  the  dirt.  The  ques- 
tions, then,  would  be  "When  we  feed  the 
plant  where  do  we  pour  the  water?"  Im- 
age, "On  the  dirt."  "What  part  of  the 


ESTABLISHING    RELATIONS  61 

plant  is  down  in  the  dirt?"  Image,  "The 
root  is  down  in  the  dirt."  Relation  estab- 
lished (cause  and  effect),  "The  root  takes 
up  the  water." 

It  is  sometimes  necessary  to  make  use 
of  mental  images  not  so  closely  connected 
with  the  subject  in  hand  as  are  those  of 
the  instances  cited.  Examples  of  such 
case  may  be  seen  in  the  use  of  illustrations 
in  a  lesson. 

For  example:  take  the  case  of  the  bee's 
wings  being  hooked  together  in  flight. 
By  the  aid  of  the  microscope  the  children 
have  discovered  the  row  of  little  hooks 
on  the  back  wings  and  also  the  groove 
on  the  front  wings  into  which  they  hook. 
They  have  also  described  the  use  of  the 
wings  in  flying.  The  children  can  dis- 
cover no  reason  for  this  arrangement  and 
so  through  a  similar  case,  though  con- 
siderably remote,  the  teacher  helps  them 
to  discover  the  effect  of  hooked  wings. 
She  asks,  "How  do  people  use  their  hands 
in  swimming?"  to  which  the  children 
reply  by  showing  the  movement  with 
their  hands.  The  teacher  then  asks,  "Why 


62  AUTO-EDUCATION 

do  you  not  hold  your  hands  so?"  (indi- 
cating the  fingers  apart).  The  children 
explain  that  with  the  fingers  apart,  the 
water  would  go  through  (mental  image) 
and  one  could  not  push  so  hard;  after 
which  the  teacher  asks,  "Compare  the 
case  of  the  bee's  wings.  What  would  be 
true  with  regard  to  the  air  if  the  bee,  in 
flight,  beats  the  air  with  his  wings  apart?" 
The  children,  now,  through  the  relation 
of  likeness,  see  that  the  bee  could  "push 
better",  this  being  the  effect  of  hooking 
the  wings  together. 

While  the  association  here  is  somewhat 
more  remote  than  in  the  previous  examples, 
the  principle  is  the  same.  The  questions 
that  embody  the  associated  idea,  call 
up  the  image  of  the  act  of  swimming  with 
closed  fingers.  The  children  are  then  asked 
to  compare  with  this  the  act  of  flying  with 
closed  wings,  which  results  in  the  discovery 
of  the  relation  of  likeness,  and  this  explains 
the  use  of  the  hooks. 

It  is  the  custom  of  many  teachers  of 
methods  in  normal  schools  to  forbid  the 
use  of  questions  "that  can  be  answered 


ESTABLISHING    RELATIONS  63 

by  'yes'  or  'no'."  The  fault  with  such 
questions  lies  in  the  fact  that  the  subject 
matter  of  them  expresses  the  relation  in- 
stead of  calling  to  mind  the  images  be- 
tween which  the  relation  is  to  be  estab- 
lished by  the  children.  For  example,  in 
the  above  illustration,  instead  of  the 
question  given,  the  teacher  would  say, 
"When  people  swim  they  hold  their  fingers 
close  together,  do  they  not?"  to  which 
the  children  would  answer,  "Yes." 

The  habitual  use  of  this  form  of  ques- 
tion must  affect  the  brain  as  well  as  the 
mind,  for  there  is  little,  if  any,  establish- 
ment of  relations  in  such  cases.  Especial- 
ly is  this  true  in  connection  with  large 
classes. 

Beside  the  questions  used  for  the  pur- 
pose of  calling  up  images,  the  above  illus- 
tration contains  questions  which  call  at- 
tention to  the  relation  existing  between 
the  images.  For  example,  the  question. 
"Compare  the  case  of  the  bee;  what  would 
be  true  with  regard  to  the  air  if  the  bee, 
in  flying,  beats  the  air  with  his  wings 
open?"  This  question  calls  attention  to 


64  AUTO-EDUCATION 

the  similarity  of  effect  in  pushing  on  the 
water  with  open  fingers  and  in  pushing 
on  the  air  with  open  wings. 

The  relations  of  likeness  and  difference 
are  generally  discovered  through  means 
of  comparing,  and  therefore  it  is  usually 
most  direct  to  ask  the  child  to  compare 
this  with  that. — "Compare  the  height 
of  the  windows  with  the  height  of  the 
doors,"  "Compare  the  age  of  Mary  with 
the  age  of  Paul,"  "Compare  the  number 
of  cents  in  a  dime  with  the  number  in  a 
nickle,"  "Compare  the  climate  of  England 
with  that  of  Laborador."  In  answering 
each  of  these  questions,  the  child  is  obliged 
to  image  the  things  related. 

With  regard  to  space  relations,  atten- 
tion may  be  directed  to  those  of  position 
in  many  cases  by  asking,  "where"  such 
and  such  things  may  be.  It  must  be 
noted,  however,  that  these  questions  must 
be  limited  in  order  to  avoid  confusion  of 
thought.  For  example,  one  may  ask, 
"Where  is  the  source  of  the  Nile  river 
with  regard  to  the  heat  belts  of  Africa?" 


ESTABLISHING    RELATIONS  65 

"Where  are  the  stamens  with  regard  to 
the  petals?" 

Attention  may  be  directed  to  time 
relations  by  asking  "when"  such  and 
such  things  occurred.  For  example, 
"When  was  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill 
fought  with  regard  to  the  signing  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence?" 

Attention  may  be  directed  to  the  re- 
lation of  cause  and  effect  by  asking  "why" 
is  this,  or  "what  is  the  effect"  of  that. 

In  directing  attention  to  the  conceptual 
relation,  i.e.  to  the  thought  of  a  class  or  of 
unseen  cases,  after  the  likeness  of  a  few 
particulars,  has  been  discovered,  one  may 
ask,  "In  how  many  of  these  cases  is  this 
so?"  or  "Think  of  a  case  where  this  is  not 
so" — the  negative  form. 

The  vital  points  to  be  observed  in 
questioning,  then,  are  (1)  in  calling  images 
to  mind  through  association,  the  questions 
must  express  the  associated  idea;  (2)  in 
calling  attention  to  relations,  the  kind  of 
relation  as  to  whether  it  be  likeness  or 
difference,  space,  time,  cause  and  effect, 
or  the  particular  to  the  general,  will 


66  AUTO-EDUCATION 

determine  the  form  of  question  to  be 
asked;  (3)  questions  must  often  be  limited 
in  order  to  avoid  confusion  of  thought. 

The  questions  given  in  the  above  il- 
lustrations are  not  the  only  ones  that 
could  be  used  in  these  instances  but  they 
serve  to  show  that  from  the  standpoint 
of  establishing  relations,  the  problem  of 
questioning  may  be  made  definite  and 
scientific.  This  fact  is  alone  sufficient 
to  commend  this  point  of  view. 

Teaching,  on  this  basis,  is  not  easy, 
for  it  implies  ability  (1)  to  analyze  sub- 
ject matter,  (2)  to  psychologize  the 
subject  matter;  i.e.  to  state  ideas  in  such 
order  as  the  mind  follows  in  assimilating 
them;  (3)  to  determine  what  relations  are 
to  be  established,  and  (4)  what  associations 
if  any,  are  necessary;  (5)  to  formulate 
such  questions  as  will  lead  to  the  establish- 
ment of  the  relations;  (6)  to  acquire  such 
an  intimate  knowledge  of  the  working  of 
the  mind  that  whatever  the  child  says 
or  does  will  reveal  to  her  the  state  of  the 
child's  mind,  and  will  furnish  the  "cue" 
for  her  own  immediate  proceedure. 


ESTABLISHING    RELATIONS  67 

But  the  tendency  to  establish  relations 
is  innate  and  works  through  its  own  in- 
itiative. The  teacher  should  therefore 
be  warned  not  to  interfere  with  this 
activity  by  unnecessary  questions.  It  is 
possible  through  the  proper  arrangement 
of  subject-matter,  and  of  the  environment 
to  aid  greatly  the  process  of  auto-education 
and  thus  reduce  to  a  minimum  the  necessi- 
ty for  direction.  It  is  very  important  to 
remember  that  this  form  of  activity  as 
it  becomes  more  and  more  developed, 
becomes  more  and  more  self -directive. 

Application  of  the  principle  of  auto- 
education  to  the  higher  grades  would  be 
greatly  facilitated  by  classifying  the  pupils 
according  to  their  special  aptitudes  as 
mentioned  in  Part  IV.  Preparation  for 
a  special  line  of  work  stimulates  interests 
and  impulses  which  lead  to  the  acquisition 
of  knowledge. 

What  is  needed  is  the  working  out  of 
a  system  of  auto-education  in  a  whole 
city,  wherein,  as  a  laboratory,  observations 
of  the  development  of  the  tendency  to 
relate  could  be  made  in  reference  to  all 


68  AUTO-EDTCATION 

grades  and  conditions,  and  also  where 
the  technique  of  teaching  could  be  more 
definitely  determined. 


IV 

THE   REORGANIZATION  OF  A  CITY 
SCHOOL    SYSTEM 

There  is  no  question  that  such  a  re- 
organization of  education  as  implied  in 
the  foregoing  is  now  imminent.  Ideals 
\of  education  change  with  the  changing 
ideals  of  life,  and  everywhere  there  is 
the  call  for  greater  freedom  and  efficiency. 

The  problem  for  our  immediate  con- 
sideration is  how  to  make  the  forces  which 
have  created  a  demand  for  the  change 
most  effective  in  establishing  the  reor- 
ganization. 

The  minor  changes  in  educational  prac- 
tices which  have  been  made  hitherto  have 
been  accomplished  through  means  of  in- 
dividual schools.  But  why  should  we 
adopt  that  slow  and  wasteful  method? 
Why  not  utilize  the  energy  and  enthusi- 
asm necessary  to  effect  the  reorganization 
of  one  kindergarten  or  one  grade  in  effect- 
(69) 


70  AUTO-EDUCATION 

ing  the  reorganization  of  all  the  kindergar- 
tens and  grades  in  a  city  ?  Surely  if  a  new 
form  of  education  is  good  for  one  school, 
it  must  be  desirable  for  all .  No  more  time 
is  necessary  for  the  reorganization  of  a 
city  school  system  than  for  the  reorganiza- 
tion of  one  school  in  such  a  system  and  the 
added  impetus  resulting  from  a  community 
of  interests  would  greatly  aid  the  work. 
In  fact  the  civic  interests  of  the  entire 
community  should  be  centered  upon  the 
problem. 

The  following  suggestions  for  the  re- 
organization of  a  city  school  system  are 
made  with  a  view  to  utilize  this  community 
spirit  in  securing  a  more  efficient  system 
of  education. 

The  reorganization  of  a  school  system 
based  upon  auto-education  would  affect 
the  conduct  of  education  most  profoundly 
with  respect  to  the  curriculum,  the  methods 
of  teaching,  and  the  equipment  of  the 
schools. 

The  Curriculum 

In  developing  a  system  of  auto-educa- 
tion, the  subject-matter  of  the  curriculum 


REORGANIZING    A    SYSTEM  71 

would  have  to  be  determined  year  by  year, 
as  it  would  be  impossible  to  forecast 
definitely  what  the  children,  under  this 
regimen  would  require,  or  what  they 
would  be  capable  of  accomplishing.  It 
is  possible  at  this  time,  therefore,  to  give 
only  the  general  characteristics  of  such  a 
curriculum. 

It  is  clear  that  the  curriculum  must 
provide  a  training  for  the  relating  and 
motor  tendencies  as  well  as  to  furnish 
knowledge.  During  the  first  years,  the 
element  of  training  predominates.  As 
advancement  is  made,  however,  the  knowl- 
edge element  increases  and  the  question 
of  training  is  determined  by  the  special 
aptitudes  which  the  child  has  developed. 

First  period — 3  to  6  years 

The  Montessori  Method  seems  most  per- 
fectly adaptable  to  the  needs  of  this  period 
as  these  needs  have  been  presented  above. 

The  diadactic  material,  nature  work, 
etc.,  provide  opportunity  for  the  exercise 
of  the  relating  tendencies  in  the  earliest 
stages  of  their  development. 


72  AUTO-EDUCATION 

The  development  of  the  art  instincts 
is  important  at  this  period  and  should  be 
provided  for — good  music,  color  effects 
in  pictures,  flowers  and  other  forms  of 
beauty. 

Second  period — 6  to  9  years 

In  this  period,  the  curriculum  should 
provide  for  the  establishment  of  definite 
space  relations  such  as  are  given  in  the 
denominate  numbers  tables.  Such  work 
follows  naturally  the  indefinite  space  re- 
lations which  have  been  gained  through 
means  of  the  didactic  material  in  the 
previous  period.  The  instincts  of  tool- 
using,  planning,  inventing,  and  ex- 
perimenting should  be  recognized  in  the 
motor  training.  The  artistic  tendencies 
are  to  receive  continued  attention.  The 
nature  work,  extended  to  the  larger  home 
environment  gives  increased  opportunity 
for  the  establishment  of  relations  of  cause 
and  effect  and  of  the  particular  to  the 
general  which  are  to  form  the  basis 
for  future  conceptual  work  in  geography, 
history,  etc. 


REORGANIZING    A    SYSTEM  73 

Third  period — 9  to  12  years 

In  this  period,  further  standards  of 
measurement  (denominate  number  tables) 
are  acquired  for  use  in  establishing  def- 
inite space  relations.  The  technique  of 
tool-using  is  acquired  through  the  ap- 
propriation of  "efforts  stored  by  society" 
(modern  ways  of  doing  things  and  modern 
inventions).  Training  of  artistic  ten- 
dencies is  continued.  Conceptual  tenden- 
cies are  directed  along  the  lines  of  science, 
mathematics,  history,  language,  etc. 

Fourth  period — 12  to  14  years 

In  this  period  the  work  is  divided  ac- 
cording to  the  special  aptitudes  of  the 
children  into  such  departments  as  litera- 
ture and  science,  engineering  and  mechani- 
cal occupations,  art  and  decorative  trades, 
farming  and  agricultural  industries,  com- 
merce and  finance.  The  work  of  the 
higher  grades  should  result  in  a  body  of 
related  knowledge  which  is  seen  to  have 
a  pragmatic  value.  The  above  arrange- 
ment would  greatly  favor  such  a  result. 


74  AUTO-EDUCATION 

Method  of  Teaching 

While  in  this  reorganization  of  educa- 
tion, the  curriculum  would  differ  some- 
what from  that  now  in  general  use,  the 
greatest  change  would  be  experienced 
in  the  methods  of  teaching.  Auto-educa- 
tion means  "freedom  to  exercise  one's 
natural  tendencies  in  re-acting  to  a 
determined  environment . ' '  Education 
through  freedom  is  the  direct  opposite 
of  education  through  control,  and  there- 
fore, new  methods  of  teaching  are  de- 
manded. 

In  accordance  with  this  demand,  a 
plan  for  the  reorganization  of  education 
must  provide  for;  (1)  the  establishment 
of  a  training  school  for  teachers,  (2)  the 
preparation  of  such  teachers  of  the  present 
corps  as  need  or  desire  the  training,  (3) 
the  introduction  of  the  work  into  the 
grades. 

While  this  would  require  several  years 
for  its  accomplishment,  it  need  in  no  way 
interrupt  the  normal  efficiency  of  the 
schools.  The  entire  change  could  be  made 


REORGANIZING     A    SYSTEM  75 

in  a  medium  sized  city  in  from  four  to 
six  years.  The  following  suggestion  in- 
dicates one  way  in  which  this  could  be 
done. 

Plan  for  Reorganization 

First  year — During  the  first  year,  the 
training  school  organized  and  the  model 
school  started,  say  the  kindergarten,  first, 
second  and  third  grades  opened.  The 
kindergarten,  first,  second  and  third  year 
teachers  in  the  city  schools  take  afternoon 
courses  at  the  training  school  to  prepare 
for  the  work. 

Second  year — During  the  second  year, 
the  organization  of  the  model  school  con- 
tinued. The  fourth,  fifth,  and  sixth  year 
teachers  of  the  city  schools  take  afternoon 
courses  to  prepare  for  their  work.  The 
kindergarten,  first,  second,  and  third  year 
teachers  who  were  proficient,  introduce 
the  new  work  in  their  grades,  the  regular 
pupil  teachers  of  the  training  school,  as- 
sisting. 

Third  year — The  new  work  started  in 
the  seventh,  eighth,  and  ninth  grades. 


76  AUTO-EDUCATION 

During  the  year  that  the  regular  teachers 
are  preparing  for  the  work  they  could  be 
granted  a  one-session  period  for  their 
teaching,  spending  the  afternoon  at  the 
training  school.  This  would  be  impera- 
tive, as  the  value  of  the  system  depends 
wholly  upon  the  ability  of  the  teachers 
to  teach  pedagogically.  Beside  certain 
courses  dealing  with  modern  views  of 
life  and  mind,  the  work  of  these  teachers 
at  the  training  school  would  be,  to  gain 
the  ability  to  teach  according  to  the 
principles  of  Scientific  Pedagogy,  to  study 
the  subject  matter  of  the  new  work,  and 
to  observe  the  same  work  as  carried  out 
in  the  model  school. 

Equipment 

It  is  quite  probable  that  few  people  go 
through  life  without  experiencing  an  oc- 
casional change  of  ideals.  These  changes, 
however,  generally  come  so  gradually 
that  one  scarcely  realizes  what  is  taking 
place.  Social  intercourse,  the  newspapers 
and  periodicals  tend  to  bridge  the  gap 
between  the  old  ideal  and  the  new,  so 


REORGANIZING    A    SYSTEM  77 

that  the  latter  is  more  or  less  familiar 
before  one  realizes  that  it  has  become 
established. 

The  reorganization  of  education  as  here 
suggested  demands  absolutely  new  ideals 
as  the  warrant  of  its  acceptance.  One 
must  imagine  the  child  not  as  forced  into 
quiet  and  inaction  by  having  to  sit  in  a 
chair  at  a  desk,  but  as  actively  trying  to 
realize  its  own  ideas.  One  must  come 
to  prefer  the  noise  that  results  from  a 
busy  interested  mind  rather  than  the 
silence  of  repression ;  noise  does  not  neces- 
sarily mean  confusion. 

The  equipment  of  the  schools  should 
consist  of  such  tools  and  material  as  are 
necessary  in  constructive  work,  such  as 
carpenter's  tools,  gardening,  cooking,  and 
sewing  appliances,  and  the  usual  equip- 
ment for  the  art  work.  The  number  of 
tools  provided  for  each  room  need  be  only 
a  small  percentage  of  the  number  of  pupils. 
As  to  material,  there  is  enough  wasted 
every  year  in  any  city  to  supply  the 
schools  bountifully,  dry- goods  boxes, 


78  AUTO-EDUCATION 

cigar  boxes,  tea  chest  leads,  leather  scraps, 
and  innumerable  other  things  that  child- 
ren and  teachers  in  each  section  of  the 
city  could  secure. 

To  start  off  with  an  expensive  equip- 
ment that  relieves  everyone  not  of  ex- 
pense, but  of  the  energy  and  wit  in  getting, 
things  to  work  with,  would  deprive  the 
children  of  an  important  part  of  the  bene- 
fit of  the  work.  The  Spartans  obliged 
their  youths  to  steal  their  food.  Stealing 
is  not  considered  a  virtue  at  present,  but 
the  principle  of  self-help  is  sound.  One 
needs  only  what  one  can  use,  and  the 
need  should  determine  the  supply. 

The  following  details  as  to  the  equip- 
ment for  the  various  grades  are  suggested: 

Training  school 

The  equipment  of  the  training  school 
is  to  provide  for  professional  training,  and 
for  literary,  scientific,  industrial,  and  art 
courses.  The  manual  training  school 
should  form  the  nucleus  of  the  training 
school. 


REORGANIZING    A    SYSTEM  79 

First,  second  and  third  grades 

As  a  means  of  continuing  into  the  first 
three  grades,  the  method  of  auto-educa- 
tion of  the  kindergarten,  the  following 
details  ot  equipment  for  these  grades  are 
suggested. 

(1)  A   Urge,  properly  heated,  lighted, 
and  ventilated  room. 

(2)  In  one  corner  of  this  room  a  Mon- 
tessori    table    fitted    up    as    a    carpenter 
bench  with  four  each  of  planes,  hammers 
and  saws.     Cases  on  wall  for  material. 

(3)  In    another    corner    a    Montessori 
table  fitted  up  for  cooking  purposes,  with 
four   each   of   mixing   pans,    spoons    and 
measuring     cups.     One     gas    burner    for 
cooking;  towels,  dishpans,  etc. 

(4)  In   another    corner   a   store   fitted 
up  with  Montessori  table  for  counter  and 
furnished  with  all  weights  and  measures. 
Also    paper,    pencils,    paints,    and    other 
material  used  in  the  work  of  the  grade. 

(5)  In  the  center  of  the  room,  a  large 
sand  table  with  boxes  for  sand  and  mold- 
ing pans. 


80  AUTO-EDUCATION 

(6)  One  of  the  Montessori  tables  fitted 
up  as  a  library  table  with  suitable  books 
and  with   drawers  for   pictures. 

(7)  A    table    fitted    up    with    aquaria 
and  to  be  used  in  connection  with  nature 
study. 

(8)  Black  boards. 

(9)  Pictures  and  casts,  etc. 

(10)  Some  provision  for  furnishing  the 
best  music — possibly  a  good  phonograph. 

(11)  Material    for    drawing,    painting, 
and  modelling. 

(12)  Garden — garden   tools. 

Fourth,  fifth,  sixth  and  seventh  grades- 
rooms  fitted  up  for  study  with  special 
rooms  for  laboratories,  worksohps,  etc. 

Eighth  and  ninth  grade.  Pupils  classi- 
fied according  to  special  aptitude  and 
assigned  to  appropriate  departments  as 
indicated  above.  Various  grammar  build- 
ings could  be  utilized  for  this  purpose. 
Also  any  technical  or  industrial  schools 
in  the  city.  If  possible,  a  farm  near  the 
city  should  be  secured. 


REORGANIZING    A    SYSTEM  81 

The  work  of  civic  improvenemt  to  be 
carried  on  by  the  older  pupils.  This 
is  to  include  home- making  as  well  as  city- 
making.  It  is  intended  that  the  relations 
between  teachers  and  parents  would  be 
such  as  to  warrant  a  practical  application 
of  the  domestic  economy  taught  through 
means  of  lunch  parties  and  housekeeping 
parties  held  in  the  homes  of  the  children. 

The  work  of  reorganizing  a  school  system 
could  be  under  the  direction  of  either  the 
principal  of  the  training  school  or  an 
assistant  superintendent  appointed  for  the 
purpose. 

As  to  the  expense  of  the  reorganization, 
there  are  two  ways  in  which  it  might  be 
met.  First,  it  might  be  done  as  the 
cathedrals  of  the  Middle  Ages  were  built, 
through  the  efforts  of  all  the  citizens 
centered  in  a  common  interest.  This  is, 
of  course,  the  better  way;  but  if  it  were 
not  possible,  then  it  might  be  done  as  the 
kindergartens  were  started,  through  the 
aid  of  public  spirited  citizens,  who  would 
finance  the  work  until  the  system  were 
complete,  the  city  contributing  its  usual 


82  AUTO-EDUCATION 

yearly  budget.  The  system  could  then 
be  turned  over  to  the  city.  The  cost  of 
maintaining  such  a  system  would  not 
greatly  exceed  the  present  expense.  Such 
a  contribution  to  civilization  as  the  re- 
organization of  an  entire  city  school  sys- 
tem would  be  a  gift  worthy  of  any  of  our 
present  philanthropists. 

The  importance  of  attempting  the  re- 
organization as  here  urged  cannot  be 
over  estimated.  Progress  is  made  only 
as  individuals,  seeing  a  better  way,  cour- 
ageously follow  it.  People  are  demanding 
the  change.  The  question  is,  shall  we 
wait  for  the  slow  methods  of  the  past  when 
individuals  worked  with  small  groups, 
or  shall  we  adopt  the  methods  of  the 
present  and  demonstrate  the  principle 
on  a  scale  that  will  prove  its  worth? 
People  are  accustomed  to  large  enter- 
prises and  would  gladly  co-operate.  In 
the  coming  era  of  Social  Consciousness 
which  is  already  supplanting  that  of 
Self-consciousness,  the  dominant  note  is 
Mutual  aid  through  co-operation. 


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